is giving a cop the finger illegal?

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Bluelighter
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so today i was driving along. look back see the flashing lights think "shit mustve been speeding" also i was driving to cop some dope... so needless to say i was really nervous. at least i didnt already have it on me.

so anyways he yells at me for giving him the finger and i was like lolwhat... because even though i usually do give cops a dirty look or something, i hadnt even seen this guy before he pulled me over. he made me give him license registration insurance etc. then he lets me off with an angry look and a lecture

i live in minnesota. is this illegal for him to pull me over for giving him the finger? i mean he was obviously way out of line because i didnt even do that, but just for future notice, can i give cops the finger without legal reprocussions?
 
In Texas, it's called "disorderly conduct", usually they just write you a ticket and give you a court date though. Nothing that will cost you a job or anything though. *technically* illegal.
 
as far as i am aware, you did nothing illegal, hence, no ticket, etc. it, however, would be highly ill-advised to do so in the future. admittedly, i give the finger to all of the mobile photo-radar vans i see, but fortunately, they are unattended to until they are moved at the end of the day :p
 
^Who cares. never do it. i've seen a video of a kid getting his head beat in with a baton because he thought it would be funny to flick a cop of and call him "pig" while his friend taped. It was brutal. Kid is probably even more retarded than how he started out.

technically speaking, a google search results in yeses and nos. practically speaking, there are situations where you can scream "fuck your little sister!" in a cops face, and he will not do anything because they are in formation and are not going to start cracking skulls until the order is given, but there are times a cop will beat the shit out of you for calling him pig just because he is not doing anything else at the moment.

I'm sure someone will chime in with the technical answer soon.
 
my arrow was meant to point up at op.

haha, that is the video i am talking about. i hadnt seen it since i was a kid, when it was on morpheus or kazaa or whatever. seeing it older and wiser, i suspected it was staged. a google search confirmed. and in my google search i came upon it being discussed in law enforcement forms. there were several threads where they were having a serious discussion about whether or not the officer's actions were warranted.

concerning the actual question, sounds like it can result in a disorderly in some places, and even if it doesn't where you are...
A member of realpolice.net's forum:

It is legal here BUT I will follow their car and more than likley they will commit a violation that I CAN cite for. If not, I'll probably run into them again.
never mind his immaturity on the job; he spelled "likely" wrong.
 
in ca it is legal to give cops the finger, but it still probably isnt a very smart thing to do
 
In England it's illegal to swear in public.. you can be arrested.. I dunno how that translates to sticking your finger up.. Or even to America..

Oh and that vid thats been posted twice is obviously fake :p
 
Cops have a license to kill people they dislike and get away with it. Even if it's not illegal IMO most cops will take serious issue with it and if your an adult charge you with some trumped up charge like disorderly conduct (even though if you gave anyone else the finger, any other employee and they called the cops on you the cops would probably be pissed as hell that someone called to report that and waste their time.

They are double standard control freaks who abuse their power and screw people over all the time (not all of them of course).

If you want to fuck over a cop be smart about it, don't do shit like give them the finger. Get them in a way that they don't know it's you who fucked them over.
 
in Canada, I could charge you with mischief if I wanted to be dick. More likely is a few shots to the gut and gtfo.
 
Best story I've heard about flipping the bird to a cop:

"Correct. How-some-ever, this is not a ticket for flipping me off. You extended your left arm horizontally out of the drivers side window."

"So?"

"So, anyone who passed Drivers Education should know that an extended left arm is a signal for a left turn. You failed to turn left. Sign here, this is not a plea of guilty, it is merely a promise to appear in court."

-- Source.

Now, I know a lot of people here don't like cops, but I have to side with the law this time. That was a damn clever ticket to write.
 
^ they just write you a ticket for "Lewd Gestures". It's one of the disorderly conduct violations here in TX. For example fighting in public is another form "affraying". They write you a ticket for anything :p
 
Theres also the charge of criminal harassment up here, which could be applied.
 
So your charged with some traffic violation, a civil infraction instead of a criminal one? Don't think there is any downside to contesting the ticket- are they requesting you either pay a fine or contest it?

There are lots of tricks to trying to finagle your way out of traffic violations. If I were you I'd search the internet to gather as much info as possible on that (assuming it's not a criminal charge, if so I'd get a lawyer).
 
I was in a booking station making a call to come get picked up. Before I was able to finish, a pig pressed down on the receiver. I flipped him the finger and said "fuck you asshole" with acid sharpness. It was one of the most gratifying things ever, but later I realized I was lucky it wasn't one of those psycho cops who'll cave your head in for something like that. I did it in front of another cop and a possible witness so... instead as i left the station he just took some papers I was going to need soon and was going to play keep-away but I just turned around and left.
 
A cop told me it's freedom of speech. Just like you can say fuck you to a person. It just depends on the cop I guess, my friend gives the cop's the finger all the time and hasn't had anything happen yet. It really just depends on the cop, I would just make sure when your doing it you dont put your self in a awkward position to get rousted. If the opportunity presents it self however; I would take it if I had a buzz.
 
Dont know if they can arrest you.. dont think so..

However!

my friend in high school flipped off an OOF DUTY cop on the highway, and we ended up practically getting in a high speed chase with the fucker.. until we stopped. He tried to get all of us to give up my boys address/name... but we just wouldnt say a thing lol.

Still ashamed of that day a little.. glad it wasnt me. I dont like cops, but damn... have a LITTLE respect.
 
Actually, This is perfectly Legal.. It is illegal for a cop to respond unproffesionally after recieving any verbal abuse(I:e the finger as well).

Now, with that said. It has to be just you & the cop with no one around, Otherwise the police officer has the right to ask anyone standing around if they found said verbal abuse or the finger offensive. If they reply "yes" the cops has legal grounds to either take you to jail or write you a ticket for "Offensive Use of Language" or "disorderly conduct" most likely.

But, If I was you, I wouldn't press your luck.
 
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